Hockey was the original flagship sport of Benoni Northerns, and while the other sporting codes have caught up, hockey remains a cornerstone of the club. No player need venture outside the Ekurhuleni to experience modern hockey facilities, thanks to the Eastern Gauteng Hockey Association (EGHA) AstroTurf pitch, which was recently installed on our doorstep.
Our first and second men’s teams compete in the Southern Gauteng leagues. We then have another five men’s teams that play in the Eastern Gauteng leagues, joined by four women’s teams.
Teams: 7 Senior Mens teams | 5 Senior Ladies teams | Junior teams (U5, U7, U9, U11, U13, U15, U17)
A very good morning to everyone, from an overcast and grey Northerns on this Tuesday…
I am penning a quick note to you all that you are aware how the current regulations and legislation affects us all at the North….and what the North will be doing while we are in “lock-down”….
Last night our President announced that from midnight on Thursday night, March 26 2020, in order to limit (and/or control) the rampant spread of COVID-19, our country will take some unprecedented steps, which will affect each and every member of our nation and all its residents…..There will be a three week period of “lock-down”, which will effectively mean that we will be under “house arrest” for this period….
Obviously the North will also be one of those places which will effectively be “out of bounds” to everyone….I would just like to list some quick notes to make everyone aware of the position of the management decisions, that will affect the Club, their staff and Members….
As I am sure you are all aware that the lifeblood of our Club is the efficient functioning of our bars, as without them we would face astronomical subscriptions and levies to be Members of this wonderful institution….so we will keep these open for as long as possible, to allow us to maximise the benefits to our Member…..so these will remain open until Thursday, with operating hours from 10h00 to 18h00 each day……based on the current leg-islation, we will re-open on Friday April 17 at 12h00….if there are any further develop-ments, we will keep you informed via this newsletter, or Facebook page or our website…
One of the greatest assets that we have at our Club are our willing and efficient staff…..I am sure you will all be happy to know that our staff will receive their full normal wages for the three weeks that would accrue to them as if they were working at the Club….I am ex-tremely proud of the committee and am happy to announce that this decision has been made in this precarious economic time…. Thank you Lockey and your team!!
Of course this decision has far reaching financial implications and will significantly affect our bottom line….and although we are a non-profit company….we still maintain the profit mo-tive of a business in our Club at all times…..any profits that are made in the year, are ploughed back into the Club for the benefit of all the Members….I am sure that there are not too many people can point any fingers that our facilities have not improved significantly every year in at least the last four since I was fortunate enough to be selected to head up the Northerns ship…. so to ensure that our cash flows are as not seriously affected….I would ask that each and every one of you make a turn past the North to have a drink or two in the next three days….and pay your subs…or even just make a donation to lessen the financial burden that this dreadful disease will make on our lives…. Hopefully I will get to see each and every one of you in the next few days….
We have also made everyone aware that we are going to act as drop off point for any old or previously used items that you may not have a use for at home, as well as non-perishable foods, for us to donate to a worthy charity (these organisations will be under severe pressure over the next few months, before things start to come back to nor-mal)…so if you have some unused items at home that you believe could be put to better use by someone else, please drop them off in the Hall….we will ensure that these are for-warded on the a needy charity…..also, if you have some extra foods at home that you hap-pened to add as an extra while in the food buying frenzy that everyone seems to have been involved in over the last couple of weeks….please bring them through as well….
In closing I would ask you all to please stay safe….. We have been pounded with enough information as to how to protect ourselves from this dreadful pandemic….and I am sure that you don’t need me to repeat what you already know…. And although this will not be a holiday, it will be a time to reflect and get to know our loved ones a little better and I am sure that we will all enjoy the time away to do something different….I am sure that some of you may have liked to answer “B…B…B…”…….but ”A” will always be the correct answer….
Please take care and if I don’t see you by Thursday, I will see you on the 17th of April…….Stay healthy….be aware…Regards Rod
